Desperaux
by Trickle
Summary: SasuSaku AU She pulled away to hiss against his ear, teeth scraping the flesh there. “Welcome to paradise, mortal,” and then, even more quietly, "Welcome to my world."
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

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**desperaux**

_Chapter 1._

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Haruno Sakura felt everything with icy clarity: the dry, freezing wind against her arms, the fee of her feet against the concrete floor, the shifting leaves in the aged tree. She inhaled, breathing in the smell of dew and grass, the scent coating her tongue; thick as syrup.

The cold air made everything sharper, more crisp. The sound of the basketball thumping in the distance, the rough friction of her long hair in the wind, the steady leak of water in the drain, the approaching footsteps of a human…

Human!

Immediately, her eyes tightened. Her nostrils flared and her mind reeled, planning out every possible angle of the murder, flashing her image after image of instructions. Her fingers jerked; nails harder and sharper for an easy swipe. Her teeth filled with venom in anticipation.

Her breath came in short pants, to properly assess the scent and distance of the prey. _North, 5 meters,_ came the information.

Sakura curled her fingers into a fist and remain staring at the basketball court. She would not give in to her carnal desires, not today.

"Sakura-san," the female, her classmate, greeted. Sakura's eyes flashed up to her face, and then, to her neck. She forced her eyes back up her face.

"Why aren't you joining us? For PE, I mean," the girl's voice shook with nervousness. Her eyes were a watery shade of brown, her left eye bigger than her right. She had uneven teeth, slightly yellowing. Her skin stretched over her face, dotted with unrefined pores.

Sakura's eyes involuntarily picked out every flaw of her prey, digesting information, recording flaws. Flaws to be manipulated for a more efficient hunt, for the highest possible success rate.

Her eyes darted more urgently around the girl's body. A slight imp in her left leg. Flabby flesh—this girl was not an athlete.

Information after information spilled in her mind, and Sakura's lip curled at the slightest of tremble in her knees. The girl was afraid of her.

But of course. Her primitive instincts were probably telling her to run and never look back.

Sakura pressed her fist against her stomach in an attempt to restrain herself from pouncing and feasting on the girl right then and there.

_She has family_, her rational side hissed. _Think of her family!_

And Sakura did. She imagined brown haired, brown-eyed brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers.

_Yes, she's human, not food, _her rationality reminded her. _Not food. _

Sakura forced her eyes back to the basketball court, where the boys played. It was easier to restrain hunger when she didn't make eye contact. "I'm albino," her voice was soft and muted.

If the prey couldn't hear, they'd lean in closer, therefore exposing more neck and shortening proximity.

Very effective, and very convenient for the kill.

"The sun. It's not well for me."

The girl flushed, blood rushing to her face. Sakura could almost see the red liquid pulse under that thin membrane of a skin.

"Oh! Um…but your hair…" She made a vague gesture towards Sakura's pink locks. "Dyed?"

"Dyed," Sakura repeated quietly.

"Your eyes are green, though," the girl seemed to grow more confident, happily attempting to make small talk. A very, very bad choice. "Contacts?"

"Contacts," Sakura confirmed again, a slight edge to her tone. She flashed those predator-hungry eyes at the girl aggressively. Her mind trashed uncontrollably, flashing image after image of violent corpses. Corpses of this naïve, brown-haired brown-eyed girl. Every muscle in her body tensed, ready to attack.

_Run, _her mind hissed cruelly at the prey. _I love a human who gives chase._

"Um, r-right," the girl stuttered, her voice laced with fear. Sakura smelt the sweat breaking out in her palm; a sign of nervousness. "I'll just… um, go now. See you around?"

She hurried away quickly, her feet shuffling quickly across the blades of slick-wet grass. Sakura's sub-conscious trashed, angry at the sight of the fast escaping prey. She swallowed, trying to calm her desires.

"_She's so scary!" _the girl complained to her friends, out of earshot but definitely not out of Sakura's hearing range. _"I was choking on air!"_

Her friends nodded. _"I think she's scary, too. I wonder why, though…"_

"_Yeah, she's always alone. I wonder if she has a boyfriend outside the school or something? With a face like that, no way she's single!"_

Sakura tuned their shallow chatter out, focusing again on the basketball court. The reason she was here, in this school, was on the court. The reason of her existence was there, dribbling the ball and jumping to slam the ball into the hoop.

The boy straightened, pale skin and raven hair.

Her eyes narrowed, zeroing in on his face.

_Uchiha Sasuke. _

* * *

_When she woke up, everything was a blur. She couldn't see clearly, it was as if somebody had put a plastic film directly across her lens. She was vaguely aware of the warm blood across her neck, and the smell of it. To her surprise, she wasn't disgusted at all._

_The scent was actually quite yummy, once she thought about it. She inhaled deeply, longingly. So delicious! More delicious than freshly-baked bread, more delicious than anything she had ever smelt; more tempting than any forbidden apple, more inviting than any caviar or wine._

_Her mouth opened to taste the delicious liquid, but there was something pressed across it. Something salty. Sakura sniffed the air, still blind with the plastic film across her eyes. _

_A hand? _

_Sakura smiled. Oh well. _

_Everything was so mellow. So dreamy. Like somebody had thrown her into water, and now she was suspended in it, ethereal and beautiful and mellow and dreamy. She felt like a faerie in a fairytale, like the whole word loved her and she loved the world._

_But then the bubble of happiness broke._

_She felt pressure. Somebody was pressing something against her arm. She sighed blissfully, unable to draw the strength to care. She felt the pressure puncture her skin. A needle, perhaps? _

_Whatever it was injected something in her bloodstream, and instantly her mind jerked away from the warmth and dreaminess, like a drowning man who had been violently thrown out of the water and repeatedly beaten with a rock to cough out the water in his lungt. Her body was on __**fire!**__ Her eyes flew open, jerking to every point of her body to locate the flame._

_But there was none. No fire, no flame. _

_**NO!**__ her mind roared, hysterical and mad with pain. Surely there is! _

_The fire, it was burning into her skin now, like white hot flame-rods pressed into her veins. Her blood was like petroleum, and the fire spread through it with frighteningly fast speed. Her skin crawled at the strange sensation, it was like worms had been placed under her skin and was crawling on her bones._

_It made the hands on her arm stand and the bones of her spine shiver. _

_The hand across her mouth pressed harder. An arm was wrapped around her waist, though it did little to help the violent trashing of her legs. She was in somebody's hands._

_The thought occurred to her, but didn't sink in because the fire was reaching its peak, its brightest, its hottest, its most painful climax._

_Tears slid down her cheeks and her mouth opened so wide, she could feel the painful stretch of skin near the corner of her lips. _

_She screamed. _

* * *

The cafeteria was alive with chatter, students bustling in and out of line for greasy food and sugary confectionary. She eyed a tray of French fries somebody carried. It looked disgusting to her—how could people _eat_ stuff like that? 

She shook her head. Humans were so weird.

She returned her gaze to the boy in the center of the cafeteria, tuning everybody and everything out.

Uchiha Sasuke always sat alone in the same table, in the same seat, in the same spot of the cafeteria every recess at approximately 10:00AM sharp. He was always scowling, always unhappy, and he always brought the same bag of food.

Onigiri—Japanese rice balls.

Sakura inwardly approved of his choice. It was healthy, not greasy, not sugary, and not salty. She had gotten curious and tried it once, buying a single piece at a Japanese restaurant in the mall. It tasted less like dirt, and less disgusting than those _French fries,_ but still disgusting and very much like dirt all the same.

Sakura watched him chew a mouthful of rice 25 times before swallowing. He took another bite, and this time only chewed 17. He brought something else today, though: a single tomato, fresh and a bright orange-red.

She watched curiously as he bit down on it, watching the juice trickle down the side of his lips. He made food look delicious, and she made a mental note to try tomatoes when she had the chance as well, just to see if it was healthy and not greasy and the like.

It would not suit her if Uchiha Sasuke suffered from physical illness of any kind, no matter how dangerous or how un-dangerous said illness was.

She was getting stares from people in the cafeteria for wearing sunglasses, but she could care less. All that mattered was Uchiha Sasuke.

Uchiha Sasuke.

Uchiha Sasuke.

Uchiha Sasu—

* * *

_She didn't know how long she screamed, or even how long she remained in that man's grasp, or even when the tears stopped, but she was doubled over on the floor now, mouth open in a silent scream, tears flowing uncontrollably from her eyes, hair matted with sweat on her forehead._

I want to die, _was the first thought that occurred to her, once she had come to her senses. _I want to die so much, it hurts.

_She didn't know who she was. She didn't know where she was. All she knew was that one sole sentence, repeated in her head like a mantra (_I want to die I want todie I wannadie Iwannadie die die diedie**die—**)_, and the unmerciful fire in her blood. _

_The arm around her waist slithered up then, gently brushing away her hair on her sweaty forehead. Whoever it was had very cold lips, and those lips had touched her forehead in a kiss. She pressed her cheek against his unrelentingly, sobbing uncontrollably. She had whispered those words in his ear, _I want to die, _she had told him. _I want to die.

Shh, _was all he said, brushing his lips against her hair, hands still brushing away hair from her face. _It's all going to be okay soon.

_And then the darkness came again. _

* * *

Sakura tensed angrily when a boy, hunch-backed and snot-nosed, somebody from music class—Dosu Kinuta—leaned forward to talk to Sasuke. Sasuke ignored him, but Sakura couldn't help but feel the rising anger and panic in her. 

Dosu, one of Orochimaru's men. Dosu was talking to Sasuke.

_Dosu_ was talking to _Sasuke!_

Time was running out, and her eyes hardened. She had given Sasuke as much freedom as she could afford—a good 2 years and 3 months. But now that Orochimaru was finally acting up…

Her eyes darkened, and her unbeating heart sank at what she was going to do. _I'm sorry, _her sympathy whispered brokenly at him. _I'm sorry you stood out too much. I'm sorry you caught the eye of Orochimaru. _

_I'm sorry. _

* * *

_The pain had dulled to a constant throb, and she could move. The hand across her mouth was finally gone, and her vision was clear. _

_There were four figures in the room, and three of them were beautiful. _

Well, won'tcha look at that, _a spiky-haired spunky brunette had said. She was dressed to impress, with sexy fishnets and the tiniest of bras. _She survived!

Your sadism knows no bounds, Anko, _the silver-haired man had dead-panned. _

She's a little weak,_ the bald guy had said, his head scarred with multiple cuts and burns. He was the only one she considered not beautiful, not just because of the scars and burns, but also because of the permanent sneer on his lips. _But she will do.

_The fourth figure was a very busty blonde. She had been quiet throughout the whole conversation. Three weeks after that faithful day when the fire stopped, she learnt that her name was Tsunade. _

_They gave her a name, then. They called her Sakura—a plain, not-very-nice, not-very-unique name that she didn't really like. But the her at the time was oblivious, and she had eagerly accepted the name without a second thought. _

_The silver haired man was named Kakashi, a funny, ironic name for somebody who looked so much like a scarecrow. She wasn't very close with Kakashi, and he seemed to shy away from training her. _

_He did a poor job both as her trainer and her teacher. She had blamed herself for being too not-special, too ordinary, for his lack of attention on her. If she ever wrote a memoir, she would have labeled this time period as The Great Depression, although it lasted a mere week or two._

_Still, for fresh-faced, no-memory little her, it was more than that. It was much, much more—it was her first rejection, her first obstacle in life, and it broke her heart that one of her friends were treating her this way. _

_But then one day she woke up, and realized that this wasn't the way she should live. If Kakashi didn't want to train her, then fine, she'd find a new teacher. Somebody who was willing, somebody who would take this not-so-special, not-so-shining her into their wing and train her._

_The idea of Tsunade being the wing was by complete coincidence and accident. She had been moping around the wide halls of the Academy, the place where they sent "special" people like her to, when Tsunade saw her and asked her what was wrong. _

_So Sakura had cried and told on Kakashi, and how bad he treated her, and how he didn't _see _her, and how it broke her heart. _

_It was as if a cloud had parted and the light had shone through. She looked up then, and asked with a nervous heart and a bitten lower lip, _Tsunade-sama, would you train me?

_Tsunade had said yes and stroked her hair and said all sorts of nice things into her ear. It reminded her of those darker days, with the fire and the burning, when somebody would hug her and kiss her forehead. She thought of asking Tsunade if that person was her, but decided against it. _

_Tsunade-sama turned out to be kinder than she thought. She was nice, a good person in general, and very loving towards her. In her world full of dark clouds and festering maybes, Tsunade-sama was her first real friend, and her first umbrella. _

_Tsunade-sama was the one who gave her clothes and taught her to dress. She was the one who gave her knives and taught her to prey. She was the one who gave her prey and taught her to feed. She was the one who gave her guns and taught her to kill._

_Most importantly, she was the one who gave her strength and taught her to stand._

* * *

Sasuke stepped out of his car(a sensible Volvo, not too flashy and not too expensive—Again, Sakura approved), and made his way across the road and into the staircase, walking up to his apartment. Sakura herself was swinging her legs happily in childlike mirth as she waited on a stool for him, in his bathroom. 

She had already planned out her attack. He would see her, and she would have a good 15–20 seconds worth of a head-start as he froze at the door. She would use the time to quickly run and close every open window and door, to stifle the sound they were both going to make. It would give her a good 10 seconds left, and she'd use that time to push him in and lock the door.

She would bite him, just a quick bite, on his neck, and one of his wrist, and another on his other wrist, to speed the process up. She wouldn't even taste the blood—just a quick sink of teeth and she would pull away.

He would scream, of course, just like how she had when she had turned, complaining and crying about the fire and everything else.

Which was where she came in! She'd offer him whatever cloth and whatever solid he needed to hold onto until the process finished, and then she'd take him to The Academy, where he was safe from Orochimaru.

And then maybe Kakashi would look at her after she finished this S-ranked-mission. And maybe even congratulate her.

So you see, Haruno Sakura had a lot of things to be happy about indeed. Her Uchiha Sasuke-kun was going to be safe, Hatake Kakashi was going to look at her after she succeeded, and Tsunade would congratulate her and pat her on the head like how she did two or three years ago!

Sakura grinned happily, and continued swinging her legs.

Of course, there was the small snag of the plan maybe not going as smoothly as she had thought, and the fact that she would _technically_ be murdering him and robbing him of his life, but feh. Details, details!

* * *

_Tsunade had called out to her one day after practice. _I have an S-ranked mission,_ she had said, and Sakura had beamed and asked her who was the lucky man to get it. _

_Tsunade's reply was a dead-pan, and a _"You."

_This didn't sink down immediately, and Sakura had taken a good twenty seconds to register Tsunade's reply._

"What?" _She remembered being very surprised. _"Why me?"

_Which was a very logical question, since she knew a number of people in The Academy who could easily beat her. There was Naruto, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy who could run longer and faster than any world-record holder, and Kakashi, who was good at everything, and Tsunade herself, who could punch harder than Sakura ever could. _

_Not to mention Lee, Neji, Gaara, Temari, Kankurou…_

_Tsunade had shook her head at her, and said that they needed a high-school aged _girl_ who could at least moderately stand her ground. _"Kakashi said that you were good for the job too," _Tsunade had remembered thoughtfully, but refused to elaborate any further beyond that._

_Sometimes, Sakura thought Tsunade was only saying that to goad her into taking the mission. _

_The mission seemed fairly simple, yet fairly complicated—they wanted a boy named Uchiha Sasuke converted into one of them, a Special, and to join their ranks in The Academy, because he apparently had displayed a great much potential in blood and skill, and it was too good to be wasted on a mortal life of paperwork and neckties. _

_Oh, and also because Orochimaru wanted him and that they should kidnap him before Orochimaru snatched him away and started ruling the world. The only time limit written was, "Before Orochimaru gets him", or something along those lines._

_So Sakura had accepted. _

* * *

Sasuke was the one who surprised her though, because he had opened the door to his apartment and then walked around for a good 50 seconds, and then pushed the door to the bathroom open and pointed a remote at her. 

"If you move," he had hissed. "I'll press the alarm."

Sakura had smiled at him then, a little part of her proud that a mere human could sense the presence of another in his apartment, and happy that he had enough brains to threaten her with an alarm instead of something more lethal, like, say, a gun.

See, alarms were way better. Loud noises attracted attention, and attention attracted people, and people scared your average run-of-the-mill murderer and thieves away.

Too bad Sakura wasn't normal.

She had moved anyway, and true to his threat, Sasuke pressed the remote, only to hear silence. Sakura had already unplugged his alarm.

To his credit, Sasuke didn't lose his cool. He had pocketed the remote, and in a very polite and gentlemanly manner, asked what the _hell_ was she doing in his house, and what the _bloody hell_ did she want.

She didn't answer him, instead reaching behind him to lock the door with a _click._ She pressed her lips against his neck and he had inhaled sharply then, glancing down at her with a mixture of confusion, anger, and horror.

But then this all turned into a blank mask of neutrality as he calmly attempted to pry her away.

Sakura didn't move an inch, which wasn't surprising for a Special. They had strength, reflexes and agility humans could never dream of.

What Specials lacked in number, they made in quality. Up to date, there were only the most minor amount of 300 roaming the Earth.

But then she stopped. Her eyes flashed at her own experience. The pain would be unbearable—he would literally be on the floor begging for heaven to take his life once she sunk her teeth into him. Wouldn't it be better to knock him out first?

So she cupped his face and kissed him instead.

* * *

When she was done, she leaned away and wiped her lips with the back of her hand. She kneeled on the floor where his slumped form was, and stared at his face. She frowned. He was still awake! 

He frowned back at her, still confused and angry. There was no horror now, though—it was replaced with bewilderment.

Sakura's jaw dropped in both surprise and indignation. She had sucked out all of his life force, his energy, and he was still conscious? He should've been in a coma! He should've been not-conscious! He should've been—

They weren't kidding when they said he had potential in his blood.

Well, whatever. She tried, didn't she?

She narrowed her eyes and straddled his chest, unbuttoning his shirt before pulling it off altogether. She didn't need Ino's mind-reading skills to know what was going on in his mind; It didn't take a genius to know what this scene looked like to a hot-blooded 17-year-old-boy.

"What are you—" he growled, only to be cut off by his own groan as Sakura sunk her teeth into his neck.

She pulled away to hiss against his ear, teeth scraping the flesh there. "Welcome to paradise, mortal," and then, even more quietly, "Welcome to my world."

* * *

**A/N:** Should I continue? I'm writing outside my comfort zone. 

Was it too vague? I tried to introduce this AU world as much as I could in one chapter.

Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

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**desperaux**

_Chapter 2._

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_When Sakura was twelve, she dreamt of bottling sunshine and keeping them up on a shelf, next to her books, just beside her red-bound dictionary. She'd wait for the day to blot to black, and then she'd let some sunshine trickle from the bottle. Just a little, though. She was selfish, and she didn't want all of her sunshine to go away. _

_So she'd use a little. Just a tiny bit, enough to keep her company until she closed her eyes and went._

_When her father heard of this, he laughed. _

_She was a twelve year-old girl who dreamt of bottled sunshine and wedding-colored dreams, and her father was a man of forty who had no interest in dreaming. _

_A realist, he called himself, with the air of a man who thought he had known and seen everything. _

_They were complete polar opposites, her father and her. While she was young and full of hope and captured fireflies in jars, he was a man of forty with bitter eyes and who smashed them. (The fireflies fluttered into the sky, floating away, away and away…)_

_She went to school in a small demure academy nearby. Her class had a total of fifteen students, and her form had a total of five classes. _

_Sakura was a girl who never studied. She ranked first in class, because her class was one of those classes who dragged behind the rest with a lower grade point average than the given. Her father was mad when he found out about this, and he had raised his leather belt and brought it down with as much anger as –_

* * *

Blink. 

Sakura found herself staring at Sasuke's back, breaking out of the daydream she was in. Sunlight streamed through her room from the wide-paneled windows, more white than yellow.

_A daydream…?_

No, of course not. It was a memory. It had too much detail and too much quality not to be.

She sighed, and rubbed her brows. Even after death, the tendrils of humanity refused to leave her. Haunting her, pulling her back, limiting her potent ability as a Special.

Humanity was turning into chewing gum. An impossibly annoying chewing gum that refused to be ridden of, stuck under her otherwise stellar-quality shoe like a pest.

She flexed her fingers and glanced outside the windows, where the rest of the students were at. Small, tiny dots littered across campus, loitering around. She stayed like that for a while, just staring outside the window and into the grounds below.

Sasuke stirred. By the time he opened his eyes, Sakura was already off the chair next to the windows, by his side.

He breathed through his teeth, hissing every breath with a feverish sort of air. That was good—that meant that he was already in his last stages of transformation. If she was lucky, he'd be a Special by late evening.

His eyes, rich red and beautiful, regarded hers with a sort of growing hunger. She brushed her lips against his, sucking out his stamina again. He slumped back against the pillows feebly, fighting against his own drowsiness.

She smiled at him and kissed his forehead. He was asleep by the time she pulled away.

* * *

By nightfall, his scent changed. It was impossibly menthol in quality now, cool and attractive. If it was possible to bottle his scent and exploit it as a perfume, it would've made millions. Sakura sniffed the air appreciatively. 

His eyes cracked open, large and attentive. Immediately darting to every corner of the room, inspecting detail, determining his own location. When his eyes turned on her, it was hostile.

Sasuke was turning out to be more special than she had predicted. His eyes were the most interesting shade of red--so red they could pass as black.

He snarled and suddenly he was right next to her, gaze cruel and lips thin. Sakura mentally applauded. Newborn Specials didn't usually have this level of speed until the third month.

She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. She reached up and bit her thumb, her teeth piercing flesh easily. "Hungry?" she mocked, blowing on the puncture wound. The scent of blood wafted in the air, lingering; Sasuke gave another feral snarl, and immediately he was on her, sucking on the wound with as much vigor as a man dying of thirst.

His breath hissed on her wrist, impossibly cool. He scraped his teeth against the skin, inhaling her scent, her taste.

She tapped her neck with her free hand. His eyes shot to her neck then, wide with some inner form of urgency. He was hungry, hungrier than he had ever been all his life.

He climbed up her body, pinning both of her hands behind her with one of his. He tilted her chin away, stretching her skin, and bit.

Sakura had never been bitten by a fellow Special before, but the sensation was truly foreign. Fear and danger blurred into one, her mind on overdrive. Unnatural—the sight of predator feeding on predator.

Maybe she had an S&M fetish, but the thrill of being held in the arms of someone who could kill you was undeniably intoxicating. Her body was on fire, pulsing with pleasure and adrenaline.

She tipped her head back and laughed. Was this what they meant when they mentioned the forbidden fruit in the stories?

* * *

"Sasuke," Sakura muttered, pulling her shirt on. A black cotton T with no decoration or text whatsoever. She threw a similar one at him. "We've got business to settle." 

Sasuke caught the shirt and pulled it on wordlessly. He was such a quiet guy like that. She had never been with anybody this...this efficient. This quiet. This good.

He didn't ask unnecessary questions and he didn't try small talk. He spoke only when spoken to. He was polite, but still held the air of somebody not to cross with. He was the definition of a Special, even though he converted but a few hours ago.

"When I was unconscious, you brought me here," Sasuke said in that quiet voice of his. An assumption he made, waiting to be confirmed.

"I couldn't afford to linger in that apartment," she slid a belt around her waist, leather. "And neither could you. Abandon that old life of yours. I doubt you would ever return to it."

He glanced at her then, his eyes blank.

"You're not supposed to remember anything when you woke up. But you did," she wrung her hair out of her shirt, checking her reflection in the mirror. The bite mark was still on her neck, though the blood had dried to a dull dark red. "Unlikely as it is, is my request impossible? Is it impossible to forget your old life? Are you somebody's man?"

"The words that spill from your mouth are like humor in my ears," was his reply. Sakura glanced at him through the mirror. He had already picked up the classic-polite Special way of talking. A normal teen would've turned to her with a flat, "You're joking, aren't you?"

He even talked like a Special. Amazing. Usually the complete conversion would span a total of months to the extent of years, depending on the individual. Sasuke had accomplished all of the above in, what, two, three days?

"Sasuke, you do understand that you drank my blood mere hours ago?" she tilted her head, catching the light on her face. No shadows cast on her face. No pores, no blemish, no impurities, no shadows. Classic Special characteristics.

"You're tied to me. Do not forget whose blood that belonged to," she gathered her long, flowing hair in her hand, using her other hand to tie a ponytail.

Sasuke muttered an "Aa."

Her blood was working. A newborn who drank the blood of a veteran Special would be unswervingly loyal to her. Unswervingly obsessed with her. Unswervingly hers.

Sasuke showed no signs of obsession and hardly any signs of the above aforementioned, but then again he did nothing to rebel against her.

She turned to him. "Can you spread your wings?"

Soundlessly, two wings spread from his back, brushing against the ceiling. They were impossibly large.

One of the differences between a Vampire and a Special were their wings. A Vampire had black silken wings. A Special had wings coated in sleek, shiny black feathers.

"Good," Sakura smirked. "We're going Vampire hunting."

* * *

"_Why do we have to kill Vampires?" Sakura cocked her head at Kakashi, gancing at the mangled corpse of one on the ground. "They are so similar to us. So similar its almost as if we're the same."_

"_That's a very good question, Sakura," Kakashi snapped his book shut. "You've read the books in the library, have you not? Can you tell me what's the difference between a Vampire and a Special?"_

"_Wings, Abilities, Scent," Sakura recited. "The WAS."_

"_That's correct," Kakashi smiled. "They are immortal, in a way. They can never die of old age. We can die of old age, but we're invincible. They're not. In a way, its life versus power."_

"_I see."_

"_Do you remember Orochimaru?"_

"_The traitor?"_

"_The one and only. Orochimaru was a Special. He betrayed us. He desired too much—he wasn't satisfied of living a life being so powerful. He wanted to live forever and be powerful forever. He did… experiments. Cross-breeding. Unifying solitary Vampires to form a group."_

"_Vampires, who were once solo. Who traveled alone, are gathering?"_

"_Yes. He is going against nature. For this, we cannot forgive him."_

"_He bedded Vampires?" Sakura winced at the mental image. _

"_Again, he is going against nature. Every Special is ordered to engage in combat and to kill him if he is spotted. Consequently, every Vampire is ordered to kill a Special when it encounters one. Which, in turn, leads to us having to kill every Vampire once spotted."_

"_A war. That's what Orochimaru is stirring. But isn't he himself a Special?"_

"_We're not sure of that. He is neither. He is not a Special, and not a Vampire. We don't know what he is."_

"_Special versus Vampire," Sakura mused. "All this because he wants to be both powerful and immortal?"_

"_Powerful, immortal, and the ultimate ruler. He's already ruling the Vampire species, but apparently, that's not enough. He seeks to rule over us Specials as well."_

"_What blasphemy," Sakura shook her head._

* * *

Dosu's house was easy enough to find. The scent of a Vampire reeked the whole street, coming off in disgusting wafts. 

Kakashi's words came back to her. _"If we don't kill Vampire, it, in turn, will kill us. Our women will be raped. Children murdered. We are, by right, invincible, but one day Orochimaru will invent something to kill us. Intelligence tells us he's already researching it."_

Sakura folded her wings, but didn't retract them back into her body. Sasuke followed her example. The midnight moon shone overhead.

She turned the doorknob. It clicked to a stop. Naturally, it was locked. She turned further, cracking and breaking the flimsy metal, ripping the knob out of the door completely. She pushed the door open.

Silent. It was impossible for Dosu not to have heard that. Was he hiding? Probaby. Did he escape? Unlikely. The scent of Vampire was still too strong.

"Sasuke," Sakura said.

He nodded, slipping up the stairs soundlessly to check the second floor. She skulked the first floor, practically gliding through the floor and ripping open closed doors.

What happened next was too fast. In a moment Dosu himself slammed her against the wall, hissing into her face. His wings were spread. His fangs bared.

"Special," he hissed. "You disgust me."

Sakura wrinkled her nose at the overwhelming stench of being in such close proximity with a Vampire. "Get off me, you pathetic Vampire," she hissed back, flicking a single finger at him and sending him flying into the wall across her.

He snarled, landing on his feet. He bent slightly, readying himself for the next pounce. He didn't have a chance. Sakura appeared next to him, using her leg to slam him back down on the ground. She pressed her feet against his neck, increasing pressure.

A gargled cry. A sickening crack.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. He was still alive.

She slammed her other feet down on his head. Through his head. Dosu's hand clamped down on her leg in a death grip. Sakura waited to see if he was dead or alive.

Nothing happened. He was still holding her leg, and she could feel the pulse against his skin, which meant that he was alive. He hadn't thrown her across the threshold yet, which meant he was.. dead? Or maybe extremely weakened.

She raised a brow. What the hell? She had already crushed his head, and he was still alive?

She sensed Sasuke coming down the stairs a second before he appeared. He was carrying two bodies with him. A dark-hared girl and a dark-haired boy. Both didn't seem to be hurt, yet they were unmistakably dead.

"Do you need my assistance?" Sasuke sounded amused rather than concerned.

Amused that he had taken care of two Vampires faster than his veteran counterpart, perhaps?

Stupid Vampire, making her lose face in front of her junior. She snarled a no and wrenched her leg out of his grasp, ripping his arm out of its sockets.

Death-grip indeed. Sakura rolled her eyes and reached down to pull the arms off.

"You're a messy killer." Again, Sasuke sounded more amused than anything.

"Does killing make you more talkative?" She snapped, though it was true. There was Vampire blood everywhere, on her clothes, the walls, the floor…

It reeked, burning into her nostrils like fire.

Ugh.

"I can't stand this stench," Sakura snarled, pulling her shirt and her pants off. "Give me your shirt."

Sasuke openly smirked, pulling his shirt off and handing the bundle to her.

Had Sakura been any normal girl, she would have blushed at the sight of a naked chest. Had Sasuke been any normal guy, he would have blushed under the sight of a girl in her bra and panties.

Too bad they both weren't normal.

She pulled it on and grabbed the lighter out of her pants. Sensing what she was about to do, Sasuke piled the two bodies on the one on the floor.

She narrowed her eyes and sliced the three of them, letting blood flow freely. Sensing Sasuke's curiosity, she explained. "Vampire blood is highly flammable. When burned, it ensures one hundred percent death. No pulse, no body, no nothing. Orochimaru—your boyfriend, y'know?—might want to recollect the bodies to see the extent of our abilities based on the damage we did."

"I see," Sasuke didn't fall to the "Orochimaru your boyfriend" bait. He looked more amused, if anything. "Does my kill being more efficient than yours bother you?"

Sakura tried to bite him. "I like you better when you're quiet," she snapped. Lighting the lighter, she flicked it towards the bodies. Immediately, the bodies lit up with a roar of bright yellow flames.

* * *

A/N: And the plot thickens! 

Good? Bad? It was "meh" for me.

Tried to make it lighter around the end. Don't know if that worked.

Tried to make them not too OOC. Don't know if that worked.

Tried to make it not-so-vague. Don't know if that worked.

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By the way, I have an LJ. nicol - vanity dot livejournal dot com.

Oh, and I love you guys. Every single one of you who took the time to read and to review. You have no idea how happy I am when I get a review.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

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**desperaux**

_Chapter 3._

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Soft footsteps. The unfolding of wings. The unmistakable menthol scent of a Special.

Anko watched the two newest rookies walk through the gate, grinning. She nudged Kakashi and jerked her chin towards them.

"Is that seriously okay with you, old man?" she smirked, baring her sharp triangular teeth. "Your little Childe has a Childe of her own, and she's gonna forget about you sooner or later."

Kakashi glanced at Anko, unimpressed.

"She's not my Childe to claim," Kakashi said.

Anko ignored him.

"You only fed her a mouthful of your blood," she licked her lips. "The thinning admiration she has for you is only logical."

Kakashi's gaze slid reluctantly back to the two figures.

They were walking. They were talking. They were… happy.

"I kind of pity her," Anko continued, obviously having fun pushing his buttons. "You totally ignored her as a newborn. That's like throwing a baby into a pond. If not worse. "

Silence hung in the air.

Anko twitched. "All you have to do is feed her one drop of your blood again, to make her yours. And maybe tell her you're actually her Sire. She'll come running back to you on her hands and feet."

"In fact, lets go down and say hi," she curled her hands around Kakashi's, her nails digging into his flesh so hard it hurt. Anko put one foot against the ledge of the 10th floor window, and pushed.

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Kakashi never did like pelting down towards Earth at breakneck speed. It tended to mess up his stylish hair.

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Instead of flying, they opted for walking. Sakura's feet left no footprints in the snow, and neither did Sasuke's.

The Academy was always covered in snow. Specials liked snow—it was very cooling, and very calming to the senses.

Hollowed bones. They were both too light.

Sakura kicked a fluff of white, watching it fall back to the ground in a shower of sparkles and dust. "Specials are often associated with winter," she remarked off-handedly to him, remembering that she was supposed to fill him in on their kind as much as possible.

"Touch us too long and you'll get frostbite," she laughed. "They call people like us vicious and carved out of ice."

Sasuke glanced at her. "I can see why," he said flatly.

Sakura frowned at him, knowing it was a jab at her messy kill earlier. "I'm telling you, you're _supposed to_ kill messy. It instills fear in your enemies, and fear gives you an upper hand."

"We don't need an upper hand," Sasuke pointed out.

Which was true.

Specials took the term elitist to a whole new level. Everything that was average, not-special, automatically equals weak. Like toothpicks waiting to be crushed, as fragile as an ant's life. So easy to just wipe away.

Discriminating against every other species on Earth would be their downfall, but it was just so hard not to discriminate. Everything else was just so... slow. So clumsy. So pathetic.

"Its still good to have one," Sakura muttered, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Sakura smirked at her knowingly. "You're so cute when you're wrong," he breathed into her hair.

_Sssss…_

Both of them heard the other's arrival two seconds before it happened. The whistling, the sharp unshaven sound of a body flying through the air, the growing scent of more Specials…

_Fwoosh._ They landed against the snow on the ground, hair slightly messed from all the wind.

Sakura sucked in her breath. She hadn't seen Kakashi for a long time, and suddenly here he was.

Sasuke stepped in front of her immediately, shielding her. Natural instinct—Childes were overprotective of their Sires.

Anko waved her hand. "Who's this spiffy hottie, Sakura-chan?" she chirped cheerfully, feigning ignorance. "A new recruit?"

"Yeah," Sakura nodded. "He's with me."

Anko's grin widened and she nudged Kakashi. "Did ya hear that? _She's_ with _him_."

Kakashi looked bored. Not surprising, Kakashi always looked bored.

"I'm tired of entertaining you and your teenage attitude, Anko," he grounded out, his voice strong. He stepped forward and past Sasuke, casually reaching out to ruffle her hair…

Sasuke caught his hand in a death-grip, and glared.

_Oh, right._ Kakashi's brow creased slightly. He forgot she had a Childe now.

Old habits die hard.

"Your name?" Sasuke's voice rumbled, low and dangerous. He squeezed Kakashi's hand harder, almost warningly. _I don't trust you._

Surprising. Usually new recruits steered clear of veteran Specials. They could sense the gap of power between them.

"Hatake Kakashi," Kakashi glanced up to meet his eyes lazily. He clenched a fist in Sasuke's death grip. _I don't trust you either. _

Sasuke continued glaring.

Kakashi stared back.

Sakura blinked at them.

"That's enough," Sakura stepped in between them and wrenched their hands apart with inhumane force. Force even beyond a Special's. For a moment there, Sasuke thought she had pulled his arm out of his socket.

"Sasuke, we need to _go_," Sakura wrapped her hands around two of his fingers. She had a habit of doing that, holding two or three fingers instead of the whole hand.

Sasuke shrugged it off. Probably because two fingers is easier to break than the whole hand. Specials weren't exactly designed to trust anybody else. She probably didn't even notice that she was doing it.

"Sorry to cut the meeting short, sempai," Sakura bowed respectfully in front of them. "But we need to go. Tsunade-shishou seeks our company."

In a flash, they were gone. It was like they weren't there in the first place. Even the snow left no footprints; Specials had hollowed bones. They were probably too light to even leave footprints.

Anko snickered. "You didn't even get to pat her head."

-

Easing the door of the Academy open, they slipped in, footsteps unintentionally quiet. There were a few other Specials lingering in the hall, but they were weaker Specials. Specials that had dimmed abilities after years of neglected training.

Lower-ranked Specials.

B-ranked Specials maybe, from the way they waked and they way they held themselves. They were still dangerous, but not as dangerous as her nor Sasuke.

Not dangerous enough to engage in combat with a Vampire, either.

Specials whose prime had passed… The thought disgusted Sakura. No matter how they trained, they would never be as strong as her again.

The thing about being Special was, once you got contented, you tend to focus less on training. Give in to human emotions you're supposed to erase.

These Specials fell out of the race the moment they decided to be all soft and nice inside. They could never make up for the lost power, it was too late.

Being a strong Special was hard. A lot of maintenance. It wasn't as easy as everybody else imagined.

The B-ranks smiled at her, eyes watery with average happiness. Gone were the cruel edge, the distinct level of danger.

Sakura twisted her lips into a polite smile and walked past them.

Sasuke glanced at them curiously, and didn't smile back. Once out of earshot—meaning once they were in a completely different building altogether—Sakura explained to him why those Specials seemed so weak.

"Its not like they're completely useless though," Sakura was saying. "We can still use them. They're still dangerous. Its just Vampires they can't take."

Sasuke looked at her in dawning understanding. "If the Vampires attack us, its them who will suffer."

"_Exactement_," Sakura said. She knocked on the door of Tsunade's room, but didn't wait for an answer before going in.

Tsunade looked up sharply, guiltily. She was just about to hide the bottle of Sake.

"Confiscated," Sakura sniffed, snatching the bottle out of her reach.

In a blink of an eye, the bottle was gone from Sakura's hands. "I'll drink them after work," Tsunade promised her, jiggling the bottle in her own protective arms.

Sakura sighed.

Tsunade glanced up again, this time focusing on the man behind her. "Uchiha," she acknowledged.

Sasuke continued staring at her, not bothering to greet her back.

Stupid prick.

"I hear you assassinated two Vampires on your own accord," Tsunade let the polite smile take over her face. "That's very impressive, considering your age and your experience."

"Aa," Sasuke nodded, acknowledging the praise.

Sakura glanced at him. Other Specials would have groveled in front of Tsunade right now.

Tsunade twitched. She took a paper bag out of a drawer and threw it at him.

He caught it effortlessly.

"Being a Special requires a lot of nutrients. Vitamin ABCDE, protein, iron, the works," Tsunade said. "Make sure you eat two pills after every meal. Of each bottle."

"Aa," Sasuke said again.

"Dismissed," Tsunade said, returning to her paperwork. "Sakura, I expect that report by midnight."

"Got it," Sakura called, already leaving.

-

Sasuke noticed that Sakura loved physical contact. He wasn't against it, but then again he wasn't exactly the biggest fan of it either.

And it was going to be a big problem if she kept moving around.

Sakura squirmed in his lap, trying to find the proper words to put into her report. She gave a soft "Ah!" of inspiration and continued scribbling, leaning forward and edging her skinny butt closer in front.

Sasuke groaned. "Sakura, _stop moving around_."

"Right, right," she said distractedly, but still continued swinging her legs from under the table.

Sasuke gave an annoyed hiss and clamped Sakura's legs together forcefully, stopping her swing. "If you keep moving, I'll get off," he warned. "And you'll have to sit on this hard, splintery wooden chair by yourself."

Sakura didn't turn around, but he could tell she was smirking.

"Like you can," came her reply.

She had stopped writing. The report was signed. It was finished.

She leaned back against his chest—her own personal chair!—and gave a breathy, fluttering sigh. "Finally done."

"Good. Now get off," Sasuke growled, shoving her (gently) out of his lap.

Sakura pouted on her spot on the floor. "I thought we were having fun."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Think again."

Sakura rolled her own eyes at him.

The clock blinked 9PM. There was still time. Time to shower, time to freshen up before meeting Tsunade.

"I'm taking a shower," she said. "Guard my door."

Sasuke sat up properly. "Its not like anybody would dare attack us, of all pairs."

"Au contraire. We're expecting Orochimaru's attack any day now."

Sasuke's eyes steeled. "Got it."

XXX

Sakura sat in the bathtub, scrubbing her skin carefully. Water pooled around her waist, inching higher ever second. She had twisted all four faucets on.

Bathing was a very long process for Specials. Dry and dead skin cells didn't flake off on their own, so they had to scrub it off themselves.

It had a lot of pros, really, this sticking dead skin cell thing. For one, you left no evidence after killing somebody. For two, your skin was always pore-free and pretty after you scrubbed off the old layer.

_Fssssshh…_

Water spluttered and bubbled all around her, drowning everything else out like waves crashing against a rock in the sea. Steam misted around her, thick with humidity.

Her skin still felt cold, even in water as warm as this.

That was okay, though. She liked the coolness.

She glanced up at her own reflection in the mirror. Her hair was long; long and thick and a little wavy. It made her look like a doll. Those pretty little things little kids played with; those pretty little things that were so easy to break.

Throb.

She winced. What was that? That sudden pain in her head.

Throb.

Water splashed. Her fingers flew to her head, rubbing her temple in circles.

Throb.

A scream. From where? More violent splashing.

Darkness.

"Sa—"

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"—_kura. She's a pretty thing, isn't she? Flowery-like, somehow…"_

_Sakura's lips were moving on their own. She was in a room. A dark room. She was looking at Kakashi. It was like she was a passenger in somebody's point of view._

_Kakashi looked up from his book sharply. "What are you doing here?"_

"_I'm here because I want to know why you fed her your blood, Kakashi."_

_Kakashi avoided the question. He put the book down on the table. "Why are you here?"_

"_To warn you." She moved forward, her legs gliding and taking her to a stand next to Kakashi. She leaned down and whispered, "I don't like it when people interfere."_

_Her voice was raspy. Feminine, yet impossibly male. _

_Kakashi clenched his hands into fists. _

"_Plan to fight me?" she laughed in that slimy husky voice again. That disgusting voice. She sauntered over to where he put his book and lifted it up, casually flicking through the contents. _

_Pornographic pictures. How boring they were, how mundane, how childish. Her eyes rested on a busty blonde. _

How tasteless.

"_She is my Childe," her eyes flashed at Kakashi, her murder intent flaring. "And a Childe will always follow her true Sire's order. Did I make myself clear, Kakashi?"_

_Kakashi. His name was mockery on her lips. Who was she? She wasn't this slimy person. This slimy person who mocked Kakashi. _

_Thunder roared overhead, lightning flashing across a window. She looked up._

_There was water splattering against the glass. Raindrops sliding off the surface. _

_She smiled at her own reflection. _

_She had pale skin. She had a long elegant neck. She had an abnormally large smile, one that stretched across her face so much that it was inhuman. _

_She recognized that face. She could recognize it anywhere, had seen it before, had seen it dozens of times before—_

_Her smile was knowing. _

_Sakura screamed. _

_**Orochimaru!**_

* * *

A/N: I'm not dead. 

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Like it? Hate it? I'm open to all kinds of comments. _**  
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Oh, and I'm on my holiday now, so I'm open to all e-mail replying! Got a question/confused? Review with your e-mail and I'll do my best to reply.

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Too tired to proof-read, feh. Any volunteers out there?

I'll draw you multiple pictures with my tablet as a reward. -grins-


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